‘Stone Turtle’ Review: This Stunning Malaysian Mystery Puts a Supernatural Twist on Real-World Trauma

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic SPOILER ALERT: The following review contains mild spoilers for “Black Adam.” It’s kind of a cheat, casting someone as massive as Dwayne Johnson to play a DC superhero — or antihero, in the case of “Black Adam,” an action-packed, adolescent-skewing standalone that presents the swole Samoan star as a nearly invincible global threat. Black Adam is basically an A-bomb in human form, whose emergence from a 5,000-year lockdown calls for emergency intervention by the Justice Society of America, or “JSA,” which dispatches four glorified bench-warmers to contain the situation: Hawkman (Aldis Hodge, gruff), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo, doofy), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell, colorful) and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan, the standout, even if his character reads like a second-rate Doctor Strange).

I CAN See Your Voice judge Amanda Holden has been spotted wowing the crowds in a shimmering low cut mini dress. The TV star was introduced as one of the famous faces judging the talent as the popular game show returned to screens last night. Amanda, 51, looked stunning as she donned a sparkling black dress for the debut episode, as she waved towards the live audience.

J. Kim Murphy As Nintendo’s Bayonetta 3 closes in on its long-awaited release date of Oct. 28, the video game franchise’s fanbase has been rocked by a statement shared by the series’ original lead voice actor, Hellena Taylor, who shares that she did not return for the new entry after being offered only $4,000 to reprise her role. “The Bayonetta franchise made approximately $450 million. That’s not including merchandise. As an actor, I trained for a total of seven and a half years,” Taylor shared in a statement on her Twitter. “What did they think this was worth? What did they offer to pay me? The final offer to do the whole game — as a buyout, flat rate — was $4,000. This is an insult to me [and] the amount of time that I took to work on my talent and everything I’ve given to this game and to the fans.”

The woman who has voiced Bayonetta through two editions of the video game is claiming on social media that she’s being stabbed in the back when it comes to her fee for part three.

Guy Lodge Film Critic The possessive claim in the title “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” is a gutsy one. There’s confidence — some would even say arrogance — in filming an oft-told story at least as old as the hills, and suddenly branding it as your own: Even two auteurs as ballsy as Francis Ford Coppola and Baz Luhrmann didn’t slap their own names on “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and “William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet,” respectively. Still, you can hardly blame del Toro’s stop-motion spin on Carlo Collodi’s 19th-century chestnut “The Adventures of Pinocchio” for wanting to advertise its distinguishing vision up top: After umpteen tellings of the wooden-boy tale, and coming on the heels of Robert Zemeckis’ wretched Disney remake, Netflix’s rival adaptation has to announce itself as something different. That it is; it’s often delightful too.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Who can forget Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” that cheeky work of early-18th-century satire in which the author had the nerve to suggest cannibalism as a means of keeping Ireland’s unwanted kids “from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick”? In “Plan 75,” debuting director Chie Hayakawa floats an equally extreme idea of her own without so much as a glimmer of irony, and the suggestion is upsetting enough that the public will likely still be citing it decades down the road. Set in near-future Japan, where it’s a surplus of seniors — versus an abundance of babies — that’s causing trouble, this chilling social drama takes its name from a hypothetical new legislation whereby an overtaxed government offers its elderly citizens an incentive to euthanize.

Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi will no longer attend the London Film Festival premiere of his latest film Subtraction after authorities stopped him from boarding a flight to London. 

TikTok to hysterically laugh at the much loved meal.READ MORE: Brits baffled as American tourist visits UK and falls in love with Boots storesWhat is that supposedly funny dish, you ask? Beans on toast.The American took to TikTok where her 'culturally offensive' views went viral. "Bro, British people are putting beans on toast", she let out a roar of laughter.As she struggled to contain her cackling, the American mimicked a cockney British accent.

The TransPennine Express service in Irlam will continue running two trains per hour with plans to upgrade a platform set to go ahead this winter. Back in August, fury was caused after it was announced that TransPennine Express (TPE) will no longer be picking up the second train per hour during off peak times at Irlam Train Station from December 2022.

Russia has eerily warned the world that global carnage would ensue if Western allies of Ukraine continue to meddle in their conflict.They said World War 3 would be sparked if the West continue to intervene and if a nuclear war was to occur, it would "be catastrophic for all mankind".Should NATO approve Ukraine’s bid to join its organisation, a top Kremlin official threatened global destruction.READ MORE:Ukraine's bees 'fighting against Putin' by diffusing grenades left by Russian invadersAlexander Venediktov, the deputy secretary of Russia's Security Council said: “Kyiv is well aware that such a step would mean a guaranteed escalation to a World War 3".Venediktov has insisted that the West are solely making threats of nuclear war, despite his own president, Vladimir Putin, consistently teasing the use of nuclear weapons.He claimed: “Russian officials have never voiced a threat to use any weapons of mass destruction.“Meanwhile in Europe, some politicians openly call for such actions, even a number of politicians in the EU do not conceal and do not rule out the possibility of using weapons of mass destruction against Russia."Venediktov took aim at Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, claiming his "actions and words" are "dictated" by other people.He added: “It would be good for the West to realize that their protégé can take on so much that Washington and Brussels will have to think about how to deal with the consequences.To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.“We must remember: a nuclear conflict will affect absolutely the whole world, and not only Russia and the collective West, but in general any country on this planet.“Its consequences will be catastrophic

. This one—which, we must say, looked a lot like a second Prime Day—officially wrapped up on Wednesday, October 12.While many of the best discounts have disappeared for good, you can still find plenty of unbeatable deals across every category imaginable.

Actor Anthony Rapp got emotional in a New York courtroom on Wednesday. Rapp testified Wednesday that he decided to publicly reveal a 30-year-old encounter with Kevin Spacey because he knew he wasn’t the only person Spacey had made inappropriate sexual advances on. Toward the end of the third day of testimony in the civil sex abuse lawsuit Rapp brought against Spacey in Manhattan federal court, his voice shook as he commented in response to a question about his motivations.

At the time of writing, we're 151 days or 21 weeks into Little Mix's hiatus (if you know, you know). In that time, Leigh-Anne Pinnock's been keeping fans updated through her newsletters, Jade Thirlwall's been living her best life with Janet Jackson and Perrie Edwards has been...keeping a fairly low public profile.

Warner Bros. Discovery has performed a quick U-turn on its decision to close its Writers and Directors Workshops.

Prince William and Kate Middleton may be known around the world, but they’re trying to make life as normal as possible for their three children.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Saruul is studying to be an engineer when she agrees to take the last job her cosmopolitan but still relatively conservative Mongolian parents would ever imagine their daughter doing: selling intimacy aids (of the vibrating, silicone and inflatable variety) in a basement-level sex shop. Technically, Saruul’s just filling in for a shy friend at school who trusts her to be discreet, but this temporary gig has a subtle yet life-changing impact on the title character, who looks like she could be 14 years old at first, but blossoms into a more self-aware young woman over “The Sales Girl’s” slightly overlong running time. The top prize winner of the New York Asian Film Festival, veteran director Sengedorj Janchivdorj’s umpteenth feature takes a frank, sex-positive approach to the titillating world in which it’s set. But that doesn’t make this an erotic film. Instead, “The Sales Girl” focuses mostly on the unlikely friendship between Saruul (Bayartsetseg Bayangerel) and her Russian-speaking boss Katya (Enkhtuul Oidovjamts), a surly ex-dancer who takes a linking to her naive new employee. In a funny way, the film shares the slightly edgy but ultimately sentimental vibe of certain underground comics (“Ghost World” comes to mind) or the work of American indie director Sean Baker, whose last four features (dating back to “Starlet,” the film this most resembles) have had the honesty to acknowledge the role sexuality plays in modern life and commerce.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Children’s literature loves few things as much as a mighty monster who remains, against all outward appearances, defiantly benign — one who sets out to soothe young nightmares after initially stoking them, ultimately proving that fears and anxieties aren’t limited to little folk. Boris, the cheerfully dorky title character in Ruth Stiles Gannett’s 1948 book “My Father’s Dragon,” is cut from the same soft felt as Frank L. Baum’s Cowardly Lion, Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant or Jill Murphy’s Worst Witch. A would-be flying fire-breather who hasn’t yet found his wings or his flames, he has even more growing up to do than fearful 10-year-old hero Elmer, and their mutual guilelessness sets the tone for Irish animator Nora Twomey’s winningly sweet-natured, visually transporting adaptation.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic If Hollywood can justify making sequels to “Rambo” and “Top Gun” more than three decades on, why can’t Kollywood do the same? In tons-of-fun “Vikram,” a secret agent first introduced in 1986 emerges from deep undercover to thwart the biggest drug deal in Indian history. He’s a grandfather now, but that doesn’t stop the title character (Kamal Haasan) from tossing people across the room in this turbo-charged, three-hour action bonanza, which pairs Vikram with a younger operative named Amar (Fahadh Faasil). The two have at least one thing in common: Rules and regulations don’t matter, which means they’re free to fight crime as creatively as they (and director Lokesh Kanagaraj) see fit.

A beloved children’s novel is turned into a charming animation in My Father’s Dragon, which is world premiering at the BFI London Film Festival. Oscar-nominated director Nora Twomey (The Breadwinner) helms a story of childhood friendship based on the 1948 novel by Ruth Stiles Gannett, with animation from Cartoon Saloon (The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, Wolfwalkers) and a screenplay by Meg LeFauve (Inside Out). It’s a sweet adventure with appeal for young kids and a starry voice cast including Jacob Tremblay as hero Elmer, and – in one of the film’s more amusing moments – Whoopi Goldberg as a cat.